It's not so much "Trust me because of who I am" but "Trust me because of what I know". If "what I know" isn't actually relevant to the subject discussed, then t

It's not so much "Trust me because of who I am" but "Trust me because of what I know". If "what I know" isn't actually relevant to the subject discussed, then that's fallacious. Of course, an appeal to authority is not a valid method of obtaining new knowledge (an authority would be able to formulate the actual arguments that support it). It is a useful method to defer judgment, however, such as when the authority cannot be expected to come in and explain their reasoning in a Hacker News comment.